Patterns of White Hairs

Copyright Note:

Please note that all of the text information on this page was
originally composed by me unless otherwise referenced,
and was typed with great thought. I have read books and many educational
web sites to contribute to my knowledge base. Some of the content was
created in the late 1990's, and may need to be updated. With 300+ pages in this
web site, I can't remember which pages need updates all the time. If you see
an out-of-date page, let me know so I can update it.

Some photos were donated by
people that have horses with color examples needed to provide educational
content. For that reason, permission is not granted for anyone else to use
photos from these pages.

Please feel free to link to this page, but do not copy the
content and place it on your site.

Have you ever seen a horse that had a lot of white hairs
mixed into its coat that didn't look like your friend's roan, but that you
couldn't just call a plain sorrel or bay or black because of all those
hairs? Or, have you ever seen a horse that had a huge white patch at
the top of its tail that wasn't a Paint?

If you have a good photo that would help educate viewers,
feel free to send it for possible inclusion on our page.

Confusing Vocabulary

There are some horses that are close in looks to roans, but
who are not roans. Breeders and owners can be confused, correct, and
incorrect on those colors. And it sure IS confusing!
The terminology from breed to breed varies, which makes it even worse to
speak a common language in the horse community. For example, in the Arabian
breed, sabino and rabicano horses can be registered as "roans," although
they do not carry a roan gene. And the American Quarter Horse
Association allows sabinos and rabicanos with enough ticking to be
registered as roans, as they don't offer a color option for those patterns.

Roan vs Roan-ing.
The sabino gene causes roan-ing, which isnot the same as a
roan horse that carries the 'R' gene. Rabicano also causes roan-ing
but is not caused by the Roan gene. A true roan carries the 'R' gene, and
has roaning to a further extent from the flanks than those with sabino or
rabicano patterns do in general.

While I am not an expert in this area, hopefully the photos
that will be posted here over time will help you determine what your horse's
color should best be described as. My "comfort zone" is in identifying
roan horses. It is generally pretty easy to tell a roan from a sabino
or rabicano. My expertise is not in identifying sabinos and
rabicanos, though I'll try to help you if you need assistance identifying a
horse's white patterns.

Also, note the Combinationscategory. Many horses are BOTH roan and sabino, or other
combinations. These genes do not exclude each other, and can occur and
be passed along in combination.

True Roan

People often mistake other white patterns for roan, but
other than the Appaloosa roaning pattern, we feel it is "usually" very easy
to distinguish between true roan and the other patterns. Roans have an
even sprinkling or distribution of roaning everywhere except the head, lower
legs, mane, and tail. In the winter, roans are usually much less
roaned, while in the summer they reach their fullest extent of roaning.
Where a roan has been injured in a roaned area, the hair usually grows back
non-roaned. That is why roans that have age on them look like they
have dark spots on their bodies...those spots are where a previous injury
caused a "corn" spot.

True roans tend to have characteristics such as the
following:

Dark heads (very few white hairs mixed in) that do
not get lighter over time

Dark legs (very few/no white hairs mixed in) that do
not get lighter over time

Dark manes and tails that are not gray on the ends
(though some "frosty" roans have odd manes

Roaning all across the topline of the hips and
ribcage

Sometimes a "pearly" or metallic sheen to the roaned
parts of the body.

Rabicano White Pattern

Rabicano is a pattern of white hairs that's similar to roan, but which
does not cover as large of an area as the true roan gene causes. It consists of
white hairs that center from/concentrate on the flanks of the horse and at
the top of the tail, as well as under the belly. The white hairs on the
flanks often go as far as onto the rib area, where they may even appear to
make a vertical striping pattern. The neck is usually not affected, or
not affected to a great degree. The back/topline is also mostly
unaffected, though some rabicanos have roan-ing up to the backbone.

Rabicano is caused by a dominant gene, so half of a rabicano's offspring
will receive the trait.

Combinations of Two or More
White Pattern Genes

These colors are not mutually exclusive...they can occur
together. Many roans are also rabicano carriers, but the roaning is
the predominant color and so the horses are simply recognized as roans.
Below are examples of roans that are carrying a roan gene and ALSO a sabino
or rabicano gene.

Mainly expressing rabicano, but also possible sabino.
However, this horse does NOT carry a roan gene. Gorgeous, huh?
:-)

An intermediate-shade of gray in maturity, plus showing a possible sabino gene
(see the white on face and high stockings).

A young horse showing possible rabicano roaning on the flanks/ribcage, and sabino
high white socks, chest, and facial markings.

Gray

Horses carrying one or two copies of the dominant form of
the gray gene (G for gray, g for non-gray) may be born any color, but will
eventually become white or fleabitten grays. The pattern of white/gray
hairs in their coats may be obvious soon after birth, or may even take a few
years to become apparent. I have seen a couple gray grand-get of
Jackie Bee that didn't have a gray hair on them until they were several
years old, and then slowly turned white over years. Most grays turn
obviously gray by age 3 to 5, however. Their first couple years might
be described as "beautiful" or "ugly," depending upon the eye of the
beholder and the base color.

Gray foals are born any color (depending upon the genetics of the
sire and dam), changing slowly to a rose gray or dapple gray, and then to a
white coat or fleabitten gray coat. Dapple grays and rose grays are both
intermediate colors that a horse exhibits during it's life while graying
(beginning with the foal coat color and ending up white or flea bitten).
When the horse has finished the graying process, it will have a white coat
or a fleabitten gray coat (a white coat with tiny speckles of sorrel or
black dotted randomly on the body). Dapple gray and rose grays only occur in
the steps between "dark" and "white."

In their first couple years, grays are often mistaken for
roans. They shouldn't be, however. Grays have gray hairs on
their faces and heads very early on, and are usually lighter colored on
their heads than bodies. This is the opposite of roans, who have
darker heads than bodies.

Young gray foals that aren't yet showing that they have a gray gene.
They eventually turned gray.

Young gray horses that will turn white/a variation of gray or fleabitten.

A gray weanling. Note the even distribution of gray hairs on the face,
which is a characteristic of grays.

A young gray. Note the light head and the graying at the bottom of the
tail.

This Warlander 2 year old is slow to turn gray, but his tail is
showing a telltale sign.

This foal looked red dun at birth, but had a telltale sign of
inheritance of the gray gene by the rich-colored leg hair (as opposed
to the dull, buff-colored leg hair that a red dun would usually have).
He shed off charcoal color, and could have tricked some into thinking
he was grullo. But the mature photo shows that the gray progressed on
schedule.

If you have a good photo that would help educate
viewers, feel free to send it for possible inclusion on our page.

Appaloosa Roaning

"These horses closely
resemble roans and greys. The color develops similarly to grey, in that it
gradually overtakes the previous color pattern and covers it up. It is
called "varnish" because its action is much like that of brushing varnish
over a still-wet painting. The colors will blur and blend into a new,
mottled and non-distinct pattern of coloring. Varnish Roan is part of the
appaloosa
complex. " (Source:
http://www.mustangs4us.com/Horse%20Colors/roan-ish_variations.htm)

It differs from the usual pattern of roan in
that the head has white hairs and the colored hairs are concentrated over
the bony prominences (facial bones, withers, shoulders, knees, stifles, and
pelvic bones). These darker areas are called "Varnish Marks". This pattern
will likely change with the age of the horse, since many are born solid and
develop this pattern later in life. (Source:
http://www.equiworld.net/uk/horsecare/colours/ )

A gorgeous varnished Appaloosa (note the dark bridge on the nose and
lower legs).

Varnished POA mare. Note face varnishing.

If you have a good photo that would help educate viewers,
feel free to send it for possible inclusion on our page.

If you have a good photo that would help educate viewers,
feel free to send it for possible inclusion on our page.

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If someone has sent a photo to us for use on our pages that belongs to you,
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Equine
Color and Genetic Testing Labs

There are many laboratories in the US and around the
world that do horse color testing, disease testing, etc. When you choose a
lab, make sure it is a reputable one! There are several university-related
labs, which I recommend, and many private labs (some of which can NOT be
recommended!). Here are a few
I'm familiar with:

PROCEED WITH CAUTION IF YOU CHOOSE TO
USE THIS LAB, BELOW, in my opinion:DNA Diagnostics (aka Shelterwood Labs, and also affiliated somehow with
Catgenes.Org)
http://www.dnadiagnostics.com/DNA
Diagnostics/Shelterwood Labs offers a test for multiple
characteristics at one price.I had seen a fair bit of chatter online about how they cash the checks and
don't give the results of the test. So, I tested them by paying for three
horse tests. Guess what...they sent back two of my horses' test results and
after 4 1/2 months, the third was still missing in action! Repeated phone calls and
e-mails were ignored by the lab. Finally, five months after the test, someone
gave me the results for the third horse.
If you choose to use this lab, my
opinion is to only send them as much money as you are willing to lose, in case
you don't receive your results. Update: A friend just called that used
this lab and she still hasn't received her results after many months of waiting,
phone calls, and e-mails. 3/2010. I know of another horse that tested homozygous
for black that is not homozygous, as he has produced sorrel and palomino
foals. In both cases, Shelterwood does not return their repeated phone calls.

How To Donate Your Educational Photo:

If
you are wondering what color your foal is, click
here. We are having a lot of people send us
pictures for this page where it is obvious that the foal owners don't know what
color their foal is. Please, only send us photos for this page if you know your
foal's color. If you don't know what color your foal is, click
here.

If you foal is a Paint or Appaloosa, we will only use it if the vast majority
of the foal's body is not included in the white patterned areas (unless it is
for a section of the page/site for Appaloosa markings), as this page is
intended to help people determine colors, so the colored hairs must be very
obvious.

This is an educational page, and photos should
show a safe environment
and healthy horses.
I don't even know how to respond when I receive photos of wormy, skinny
horses in pastures littered with abandoned cars, farm equipment, wire fences
laying on the ground, and falling-down buildings. I simply can't put photos like
that on an educational page like this, where people come to learn.

Please note that this is not intended to be a free opportunity for you to
advertise your breeding operation, and instead is an educational page. We will
not use photos with watermarks/writing on them. There are many free advertising
sites on the Internet at which you can advertise your farm/ranch/horses. Also,
only send photos of foals you own. This way, there won't be copyright problems.

Feel free to click the "Send Your Photo" logo
at the left to send a good photo or two to us for inclusion on our
color pages.

Toni Perdew
Bedford, Iowainfo@grullablue.com712-370-0851 cell, before 9 p.m. CST (NO telemarketer
calls)
PLEASE do not call us on the phone with color inquiries for
your own horses.See link to the Color Pages if you have a question
about your own horse or foal's color.